King Flurry's Review and Ranking of Total Drama Sky Adventures
Since this seems the last tendence of the month, I decided to join to the crew of critics and say my personal opinion on each character (and later on each episode) featured in Total Drama Sky Adventures. Let's go. P.S: they're not in order at the moment. =LOW= 22th: Sierra "The Unexpected Failure" With the cast selection for the Sneaky Swordfishes I had some expectations on Sierra that was originally intended to be part of the Uberfans Trio together Fan and Topher. On the contrary, the premiere episode was unsuccessful and the next ones didn't make her relevant. At episode 4 she was clearly pointed at as an easy target for the Fall of Shame especially after Cody's departure, and lost her chance against the other easy target (Gwen). I don't know what could have happened with a different result, neither if Sierra would have been able to become a relevant character, I know only she wasn't doing much to support this hope. 21th: Ella "The Plotless Nuisance" Ella was one of the three outcast in the Daring Dolphins: while Mike was moved to another team and Anne was the first victim, she was a flat fill of space that lasted more episodes than I expected (5!). Ella was a very annoying comic relief and ironically got a deserved boot in an episode of her same level of quality: 0. 20th: Scott "The First Boot" Immediately before the begin of the season, I had predicted his elimination as first of all, and infact, this happened. Scott was totally hopeless in this cast but left with honor: be the team-killer jerk as canon, he earned a realistic nomination giving also Dakota a reason to be considered a villain. Have to say I liked him more than many other pure fodders of TDSKA. 19th: Anne Maria "The Perfect Fodder" Never been a fan of this character and I expected her to be an early boot because by herself she's just a poor Leshawna. She served only as fodder for the Dolphins but in her elimination episode she actually counted something under the spotlight unlike Ella in hers. Still, she was completely useless except for Mike's initial plot. 18h: Soap "The Invisible" Soap's premiere was solid enough to make me consider her the 2nd best Treacherous Turtle in Shanghai N' Seek, but this was the only episode she earned this title. In fact, Soap became less focused in the following episode until she completely slipped away in the shadow by the end of the third one. Since then and much for my disappointment, she floated in the background like waiting her moment to go...that finally arrived in Draculean's Keystle. 17th: Dakota "The Desperate Schemer" This is the best way to describe the Dakota seen in this series: her plot was to desperately ask alliances to whoever she needed, getting always and only Jasmine. Now, that's not the way to handle a good villain, scheming is subtle and different than that, it means come up with a cunning strategy that involves some contestants to be accomplished. Dakota sounded flat from the beginning, and more so as the season progressed, but I agree on who says her elimination was unfair, YET in any case Dakota would have been a sure boot at the next nomination of the Treacherous Turtles for obvious reasons. 16th: Cody "The Joker" At the beginning I thought that Cody would have been again a sidewalk floater or hopefully a better mid-card, but just two episodes later he turned to be a joker made just to be laughed at. His conflict with Paintbrush was hilarious but quite redundant and I'm glad it ended very soon. Overall, Berryleaf's Cody was as creepylicious as hilarious. 15th: Test Tube "The Broken Floater" This character is a mystery and a mess. She had three players that gave her different traits but there was never a continuous line: first Coolboy that made her look as the possible villain with the revival of the Dark Magic Book, then Berryleaf that focused more on her funniest quirks and showed some experience, now we have Cabbagepult that is making her the most evident floater of this season. In fact, Test Tube hasn't done anything new by a lot of episodes yet she's still in the game over more deserving characters (Bridgette, Noah, Jo, Paintbrush), so the question is: why? Test Tube should have been a main plot for Fan but I gave up on this idea episodes ago, so at the merge I expect her to solve her last problem with him and then leave. Let be honest: the same actual player said several times to have no idea for her and she was used only for votes majority sometimes. In the merge Test Tube has become slightly relevant, but still quite there compared to the rest of the contestants... She's turning pretty OOC, too. 14th: Gwen "The Gothic Cockroach" =MIDDLE= 13th: Mike "The Grasshopper" First I explain why this nickname. In Italy they refers to someone as grasshopper to point out the fact that either he eats all the food reserves or brings chaos and devastation wherever he goes. Also, grasshoppers are well known to jump from a plant to another like Mike did jumping from Daring Dolphins to Sneaky Swordfishes to Chris's staff of interns. In every team he was, Mike consisted in a continuous source of troubles and arguments: he stood against Bridgette's leadership and his personalities made it hard for the Dolphins to stand him, then Mike knocked at the door of the Sneaky Swordfishes being half welcomed and half targeted of suspects and hate. His ambiguous presence brought spat weakening which was considered the team to beat. In my opinion, I think my strives to give this character a more deep plot than canon TDAS were worth enough, despite it was an huge task and eventually Mike was my weakest and less focused character for a bit, and, overall my underdog. I relied on his personalities but only to make him look like a pitiful aspirant redeemer or distress with comic relief moments: it worked perfectly if we consider Mike was targeted more times than anyone else at the nominations, dodging them always until the later pre-merge. 12th Lightbulb "The Not so Bright for a Bulb Mascot" Here we get another underdog of TDSKA. I consider Lightbulb as the funny mascot of the Treacherous Turtles: Berryleaf is the perfect player for her and makes her create ton of fun but doesn't have a solid plot. She's a supportive character for Brick and had her moments of glory in and there, my favorite was with Jo in The Maine Course. Notably, she was (even if for just two episodes) the best friend of Mal and their was a genuine friendship that suggested a different point of view of the Malevolent One. Said this, Lightbulb was always the support for someone else's plot, from Jo to Brick, from Jasmine to Mal, Lightbulb had not the cards to be a finalist, fair and square. 11th Mal "The Insider Intern" The last entry and aspirant main villain. 10th: Paintbrush "The Shooting Star" Paintbrush was already a positive surprise to the point to be considered one of the best in Total Drama Enchanted Forest but Happy made him rise as a star in Total Drama Sky Adventures. He was one of the reasons the Sneaky Swordfishes were in major spotlight and worked both with serious and comic scenes. In the first three episodes he was the Fulcrum of the team (while Topher was the Lancer and Fan the Ace): its rivalry with Cody continued directly from where it had been interrupted and his sudden friendship with Fan was one of the best moment of character/interaction development seen so far and one of my favorite overall in the series cause of the perfect alkemy and genuine feeling it had. By the way, since the 4th episode Paintbrush went to the sunset until he became the opposite of the past: a background character. Its elimination was a waste of true potential and personally I was less attached to the Sneaky Swordfishes after it. 9th: Bridgette "The Female Protagonist" In the first part of the season I wasn't appealed to Bridgette that I considered a poor leader for the Dolphins being usually supported or replaced by Trent and Noah in importance, and I made a plot for Mike based on this feeling. Bridgette should have been that classic puppet-leader just there to appear but with her fellows doing the true job in the back scene, I liked this idea but her true potential came up as the Dolphins reduced to a quartet. Bridgette got through a nice development with the love story with Trent, that was handled almost perfectly as Gwentrent in TDI, not rushed, not obvious, just genuine and cute, starting as a close friendship without actually never getting far with a kiss. Bridgette was my least favorite of the so called "Dolphins Quartet" but she showed to be a versatile character and the very female protagonist of THE SKY ADVENTURES: had gags on her goofiness, difficult and interesting interactions with Izzy and Noah, and her romance with Trent. All my kongratulations to Berryleaf! =HIGH= 8th: Jasmine "The Amazon against the System" 7th: Brick "The Souvenir Soldier" Brick was a member of the unforgettable Team Turtle (or Turtle Trio), a sort of Team Rocket expy now that I think about a possible comparison. If Jo was the bossy female and Lightbulb the arguably bright third member, Brick was the submissive male of them. Overall Brick was a shining character, he had interesting plots like the souvenir collection, the tough romance with Jo, the friendship with Lightbulb and his Tyler-attitude to accidents and goofs, but with limited interactions globally restricted to Jo, Jasmine and Lightbulb. As Jo left, he suffered the most her absence turning into an average contestant, and in the first two episodes of merge he was getting in the background, so, despite I would have liked him as a finalist four, his elimination came at the right time and with honour. He's now a discharged soldier. 6th: Noah "The Snarker Crab on Development" Not official rank. 5th: Topher "The Swordfish Show Stealer" Topher was the Lancer of the Sneaky Swordfishes from the beginning. His character had the best debut together the other ace and dominated the screen through the season. His development was well orchestrated, his interactions were good, and the plots were interesting, but on the other side he soon turned into a generic character, always in charge as the unofficial leader of his team or to support Gwen, Fan or Mike, sometimes way too much similarly to the Dolphins supporter, sometimes even OOC to be the real Topher. As much as I liked this different version of him, I would have liked to see more traces of the original character, maybe it could have been worthy to make him comment what happened or annoy Chris more, instead he was a magnet of friendships and conflicts (most notably with Mal) sounding episode by episode more and more like a screenhogger more than a true character on development. Definitely he deserved to be a finalist and, like Jo, was robbed over less worth characters, by the way he needed to go out before to result annoying and redundant, like he was since merge began. His role as Gwen's crutch, his excessive heroic parts against Mal, and furthermore the big alliance formed with Jasmine, were all really deteriorating his potential and characterization to the point that Topher seemed unoriginal and a copycat of Welly's Tyler. Plus, very annoying close to the end with his lingo quote "Watcha gonna do, girl, watcha gonna do?" that really derailed his character. Shameful. If only Cabbage would have listened to me more... 4th: Izzy "The Crazy Queen of the Dolphins" Not official rank. 3rd: Jo "The Leader" Jo was my bet for this roleplay: I had never took the role of someone like her being the exact opposite of the characters I usually like and mimic (Noah, Fan, Mike...). However, I caught up on her role immediately: I have to admit that it's awesome to feel like a boss! Jo was epic. All the interactions inside the Treacherous Turtles depended on her, both conflicts and alliances, because if you weren't one of her "cadets" like Brick, you had to be one of her enemies. The rivalry with Jasmine was a direct continuation from TDEF and offered lot of fun and development, and the fact Jo was always able to backlash any offense and attempt of rebellion increased the fun. This Jo actually was very similar to ROTI and TDAS, nothing new, that's why I also developed a soft sub-plot made of lightnings of break and moments of sweetness, balanced promptly with the tough as nail side of her. The ship with Brick was severly times hinted but purposedly rejected in the friendzone to stay in the character but Jo's development didn't stop here: she started to become more concerned about her aspect, a thing that only two episodes of TDROTI had suggested in canon and that I decided to expand at the best possible.Her elimination time was my most favorite cause it crowned everything. Needless to add more, Jo's departure was very early than she deserved and all the Treacherous Turtles suffered and still suffer her miss. Trent "The Guitar Solid" Yet to be ranked. Fan "The Fanfavorite" Yet to be ranked. Status Floaters: Test Tube, Gwen, Mike and Lightbulb. Wasted Potential: Jo, Paintbrush and Topher. Derailed characters: Noah, Paintbrush and Topher. Rightful Fodders: Ella, Scott, Cody, Ann Maria. Epic fails: Dakota, Soap, Sierra. Rightful Mergers: Izzy, Fan, Trent and Jasmine. My Currently Rate on the final 7 From worst to best: Test Tube: The most messed. She's going to be OOC. Jasmine: she has substituted Topher definitely, her characterization is becoming rather generic in result and having a downfall. Mal: close to the Fall of Shame, Mal offers still entertainment when he goes against Gwen. Pity most of his plans are ruined by the intromissions of Jasmine... Gwen: slightly better thanks to her conflict with Mal and since her crutch Topher is out. Still too supported and protected by Jasmine. Fan: kind of a roller coaster in the later episodes: excellent in episode 15, similar to Az-Take a chance in the last one. NEEDS A NEW PLOT and his one with TT is really derailing from the original II. Trent: he's the most successful and solid, way too much in my opinion to be the best. Needs to do more flaws and develop a strong conflict, maybe with Jasmine, since both don't have a true one on their own, except the ultra obvious Mal. Izzy: a pleasure surprise since the beginning of the merge. She's getting the character development I wished for her...hope she'll continue in this way! Category:King Flurry